Harry's Dread
by IronFists
Summary: Misfortune is cast on Harry after his first date with Cho.
1. Chapter 1

Harry watched as Cho Chang stormed out of the candle lit café. He knew that he would regret that last comment. What was he supposed to say? I love your hair? God, he hated Valentine's Day.

He got up and placed a Galleon on the table before leaving the blur of tongues and other people's mouths. Just as he was leaving, Hermione ran up to him holding a newspaper article and yelling, yelling…

**SNAPE!** This name left a vile flavour in his mouth. The man responsible for the death of his parents, god father and the most respected Hogwarts headmaster ever, Albus Dumbledore.

He was too distracted to hear that Hermione was exclaiming that Snape had been found and captured somewhere in Indonesia trying to sell his wand and clothing. And then something about DRACO MALFOY! He ripped the Daily Prophet out of Hermione's hands and began to read it aloud.

"Severus Snape, Death eater and murderer of Albus Dumbledore, has been found in Jakarta, Indonesia, attempting to sell his unicorn tail wand and black robes to local goblin merchants. Wizardring Law Enforcements arrived on the scene when his 'Dark Mark' was identified by a tourist witch from Scotland.

Harry Skipped down a few paragraphs, explaining the deadly crimes performed by Snape to Draco Malfoy…

"The notorious Draco Malfoy, son of the Death Eater, Lucius Malfoy, was not found with Snape."

"After being transported to the English Ministry of Magic, there will be a hearing before a trial. We can only hope that the law grants him a life sentence in Azkaban."

Harry looked at Hermione and then the article before speaking in a fazed out voice, "I am going to have to go to the hearing, you know that don't you, I was a witness to his crime."

"Of course I know that and I am going to ask Professor McGonagall if Ron and I can accompany you to the Ministry of Magic," explained Hermione. "What happened to Cho? I thought you were having lunch together."

After Harry's short silence, Hermione understood what the outcome of that date had been. After peering through Fred and George's new store in Hogsmeade, they decided to leave for the castle.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry watched Hermione as she walked down the long winding road to the castle. She was so much like Professor McGonagall it was quite scary. She held her self high and showed little emotion nowadays than she did when they first met. Hermione was a top student in almost every subject except the Defence Against the Dark Arts in which Harry was of course the highest achiever. He wondered if she would ever admit her love for Ron before school ended.

This was the least of his worries for now. From this morning onwards he now had to deal with his upcoming N.E.W.T. exams, Cho and Snape's trial. He was definitely going to a busy man for the next few months.

As they made their way to the great doors that lead to the vast Entrance Hall, Hermione stopped suddenly and was beaming in the direction of a tall and lanky, redheaded boy leaning on a suit of armour. Ron. Ron was back from Albania, where he had been visiting the gold mines there on an Ancient History excursion. As they approached him, Harry waved an awkward out of place wave, knowing the troubke he would be in if Ron had found out that Harry had started dating again. When they finally reached him, Hermione collapsed on him in a more than friendly hug.

"Gees Hermione, will you get off me, I just got back and the muggle "airplane" was absolutely terrifying. I never knew that those great lumps of steel could actually lift off." Ron proclaimed, shoving Hermione under one arm. "So you two what have you been up to lately, ay, ay?"

"Oh Ron! You are so childish, I will never like Harry and you know that," exclaimed Hermione whilst elbowing him in the ribs. "Well it's good to have the sensible part of you back at least. But while you were off investigating haunted mines, Indonesian wizadring law enforcements caught a Mr. Severus Snape. Judging by your reaction I am pretty sure you know what that means, it means that Harry is going to be summoned by the Ministry of Magic to testify against him and his crimes."

"So wait! Was Malfoy caught with Snape or was he alone?" asked Ron.

"According to the Daily Prophet he was found trying to sell his robes and his wand, probably trying to dispose of any evidence." Harry explained knowingly.

"I don't know about Hermione but I am obviously going to escort you to the hearing. It will be fun to see the look on that slime ball's face when he proved guilty." exclaimed Ron greedily.

"Ron, this isn't a game! He has killed people and he deserves to go to Azkaban, you know that," Hermione scolded. "And of course I am going to come to the hearing with you guys!"

Next morning while enjoying a glass of pumpkin juice and a massive portion of French toast, Harry noticed his snowy white owl, Hedwig among the rabble of brown and grey post owls. She seemed to be carrying what seemed to look like a thin, white letter. He knew exactly what this was before it even landed on the dining table in front of him. As he clumsily handled the letter, a gut feeling told him to just leave it closed and throw it into the fire and make it look as if he had never received the letter but another part of him told him to open it and accept the burden that would be placed on him. As he fiddled with the seal Hermione and Ron noticed Harry's expected mail and began acting as if they hadn't noticed, but Harry knew they had noticed and ripped off the seal, releasing its contents onto the table in front of him. He picked up the small piece of paper with the perfectly written hand-writing edged on it. He read it in silence leaving his two companions in full suspense.

_Dear Mr. Harry Potter,_

_You have been formally invited to attend the trial and hearings of murderer and Death-eater, Severus Snape, as you were an apparent witness to one or more of his awful crimes. It will be understood if you are unable to attend if you are still in a matter of shock and decline after you what you saw that horrible night. However it would be greatly appreciated if you could testify against this criminal and his heinous crimes. _

_If you accept please send your owl to back to me as soon as possible as we are trying to begin the hearings at the start of next month. I am sure that you know the address of the Ministry as you have quite an amazing history here. _

_Many thanks and appreciations,_

_R. Scrimgeour_

_Minister of Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour_

As Harry began reading the letter for a second time, he was relieved to find that it said he wasn't required to take part in the trial even though he planned to anyway. Harry wasn't too sure about confronting Rufus Scrimgeour, as the last time he spoke with the recently elected Minister for Magic he was almost pressured in being their new poster boy. But Harry knew what he had to do and was very ready to confront Snape again because this time he wasn't frozen to the spot by magic. He only wished that he was allowed to punish Snape the same way that all of Dumbledore's friends and family had been punished through grief. This was the downside to the law.


End file.
